British version continued..............
"There remained the thorny subject of taxation. At considerable expense,
Britain had won France's North American territory in the Seven Years War,
1756-1763. Britain now faced a large postwar debt and the responsibility of additional
land to protect and govern. Highly burdened by taxes themselves, the British
were merely asking the colonies to bear the expense of their own
administration and defense. As each proposed revenue bill met with opposition, it was
repealed, Parliament being eager to appease the colonies. But such lenity only
encouraged additional disobedience, which was skillfully orchestrated by colonial
propagandists. The Boston Massacre of 1770, during which redcoats fired on a
mob owing to extreme provocation, was played up as if hundreds of colonists had
been killed instead of five."